College and Research Libraries B y E I L E E N T H O R N T O N The Publication of Library School Theses Miss Thornton is librarian3 Vassar Col- lege. WHEN I examined the list of " G r a d u -ate T h e s e s A c c e p t e d by L i b r a r y Schools in the U n i t e d States, 1 9 4 9 - 5 0 , I w a s fired w i t h enthusiasm to s t u d y several papers w h i c h promised us help in o u r li- b r a r y . I have gone t h r o u g h this excitement every time c o m p a r a b l e lists have appeared in the past, and I shall probably continue to burn w i t h good intentions as each a n n u a l list appears. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , so f a r this has been entirely a m a t t e r of enthusiastic excite- ment, t o t a l l y unsupported by positive action on m y part. W h e n it comes r i g h t d o w n to it, I find that I am l o a t h to g o t h r o u g h the c o m p l e x , costly and g e n e r a l l y u n s a t i s f a c t o r y p e r f o r m a n c e of b o r r o w i n g theses on interli- b r a r y loan. I find that I w a n t the m a t e r i a l to stay w i t h me u n t i l I can study it thor- o u g h l y and discuss it w i t h m y colleagues w h o must also have time to study it. T h e chances are w e shall w a n t to keep it so that w e can refer to it again l a t e r . W h a t I should really like to do is to develop a small but excellent l i b r a r y of research studies w h i c h m i g h t help us w i t h specific problems or w h i c h m i g h t w i d e n and deepen our k n o w l - edge and philosophy of librarianship. If the research c o n d u c t e d by the students in our l i b r a r y schools is not carried on solely as discipline but instead as a sincere a t t e m p t to advance the f r o n t i e r s of librarianship, its products deserve w i d e r dissemination than 1 Leon Carnovsky. "Graduate Theses Accepted by Library Schools in the United States, 1949-50." Li- brary Quarterly, 20:289-99, October 1950. they n o w receive. E a c h y e a r students pro- duce a l a r g e g r o u p of research r e p o r t s ; re- ports of c u r r e n t interest, on a w i d e v a r i e t y of topics and u n d e r the best direction w e have in the profession. A n d each year, w h e n the m o u n t a i n s have ceased their labor pains, the resultant mice are quietly shelved in triplicate, m o d e s t l y hidden a w a y f r o m all but rare c o m m a n d appearances in Library Literature or the Library Quarterly list- ings. L i b r a r i a n s , l i b r a r y schools and the stu- dent-authors all lose by our f a i l u r e to make this m a t e r i a l available. A l l of us w o u l d benefit by even a moderate publication pro- g r a m . L i b r a r i a n s in the field have a double re- sponsibility in r e g a r d to this r e p o r t i n g : they should put it to the test of both practical and c r i t i c a l e x a m i n a t i o n ( w h i c h w o u l d , in t u r n , benefit the l i b r a r y school and the au- t h o r ) , and they should e x t r a c t f r o m the mass t h a t part w h i c h w o u l d i m p r o v e them as librarians and profit their institutions. A s a m a t t e r of hard f a c t , librarians really need the i n f o r m a t i o n to be f o u n d in m a n y l i b r a r y school theses. A search t h r o u g h Library Literature usually has the disheart- ening effect of p r o v i n g that the data one most w a n t s are quite o f t e n to be f o u n d o n l y in a thesis. A good thesis w i t h a good bibliography is f r e q u e n t l y the most direct route to the i n f o r m a t i o n the w o r k i n g librar- ian requires. If w e assume that each of the studies is w o r t h y of the degree it helped to earn f o r its a u t h o r , publication should re- dound to the g l o r y of the l i b r a r y school. 266 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES A l s o , it is hard to see how library schools can plan productive research programs with- out having at hand reports on the research already carried on under the aegis of other library schools. L i b r a r y school placement efforts could be made more successful if prospective employers had easy access to the m a j o r research efforts of candidates. If li- brary school graduates are to be encouraged to continue scholarly research, both the schools and the profession as a whole w o u l d be w e l l advised to give more than lip service to students' research by finding some method of publication and distribution for theses. It is obvious that no publisher of trade books is going to clamor for the privilege of making these studies available in print. Occasionally one report w i l l be of general enough interest to find a publisher—usually among the university presses—and a slightly larger number w i l l be abstracted or otherwise eviscerated for publication in pro- fessional journals. A f e w w i l l be dupli- cated on film, and most w i l l be available on interlibrary loan. W h a t seems to be called for at this time is cheap and small editions, and these can be obtained by means of microcard. T h e M i c r o c a r d Foundation w o u l d like very much to undertake a project involving a group of library school theses. M r . Rider writes, " C o n t i n u a l small econo- mies have enabled us to get out minimum editions of 15 copies instead of 25 copies, at no increase of basic rate per card. . . . If the foundation does them it w i l l quote a price of not over 2O0 a card. . . . " T h e m a j o r i t y of masters' theses do not ex- ceed 100 pages in l e n g t h ; the doctoral dis- sertations vary greatly but often are not longer than 200 pages. A maximum of 48 typewritten pages can be printed on one microcard. T h i s indicates that many re- search studies could be reproduced on cards at costs ranging from 40^ to $1.00 per title. O f the 441 reading machines already sold by the N o r t h e r n E n g r a v i n g and M a n u - f a c t u r i n g Company, w e l l over 300 are in academic or public libraries, the most obvi- ous market for library school' theses. A s D r . C a r n o v s k y pointed out in his prefatory remarks to the 1949-50 list of graduate theses, the information w h i c h was supplied to him from which to compile the list is not sufficient to distinguish among a comprehensive paper, a synthesis of exist- ing literature, a report w r i t t e n for a seminar, a field study and a piece of re- search consisting of an original contribution to knowledge. Still, as a starting point, and because it is accessible to most persons w h o might be interested in this project, this list might serve as a checklist from which to make a trial order. Librarians w h o are interested are asked to w r i t e me immediately, listing the theses they w o u l d like to have made available on microcard. T h i s w i l l not be regarded as an order because authors and library schools must first authorize publica- tion and because most libraries must order such materials through more formal chan- nels. Q u i c k , informal communications w i l l enable me to see if the idea is sufficiently popular to take to the M i c r o c a r d Foundation and to the library schools for the next steps. JULY, 1951 267